BNP: A party of convictions

The BNP claims to be the party of law and order but its ranks are full
of people with serious criminal records.

Here are some of the most recent cases where BNP members have been
convicted. To learn about BNP members' more serious crimes, visit the
terrorist links.

More information will be posted on this site shortly.

March 2007 David Copeland
The Appeal Court increases David Copeland's sentence to a minimum of 50
years. The London nail bomber, who had been an active member of the BNP,
had originally been sentenced to a minimum term of 30 years for the
three bombs he set off in 1999 which killed three people and injured 139
others.

February 2007 John Laidlaw
John Laidlaw is sentenced to life after going on a shooting spree in
north London in May 2006. He shot Abu Kamara in Upper Street before
accidentally shooting Emma Sheridan at Finsbury Park Tube station, as he
aimed at a second man. Laidlaw had a string of previous convictions
starting at the age of 14. They included property damage, public order
offences and 16 counts of theft and possession of knives. He also
carried out seven armed street muggings and had been in and out of jail
several times. In October 2004 he attacked a black motorist, hurling
racist abuse at him. A police report written after Laidlaw was arrested
for the attack said he behaved violently in front of officers and was
"foaming at the mouth". "In the presence and hearing of the black female
gaoler the defendant made racist comments and remarks, stating he was a
member of the BNP and that he hated all black people," the document
says. He also said he was going to "kill all black people". He was
convicted of racially aggravated actual bodily harm and using racist
language.

February 2007 Robert Cottage
Robert Cottage, a BNP member and former council election candidate,
pleads guilty to possessing explosives. He denies, however, as does his
co-defendant David Jackson, conspiracy to cause an explosion. The jury
are unable to agree a verdict. A retrial will take place in July.

January 2007 David Enderby
David Enderby, a BNP councillor in Redditch, is found guilty of assault
on three members of his estranged wife's family. He is fined £100 for
each assault and ordered to pay £100 costs. His wife later told the
local newspaper that he had a history of domestic violence.

January 2007 Mark Bulman
Mark Bulman was jailed for five years for setting fire to Swindon's
Broad Street mosque. He used a BNP leaflet as a fuse for his petrol bomb.

December 2006 Richard Mulhall
Richard Mulhall, the BNP's council group leader in Calderdale, was
sentenced to do 200 hours of unpaid work on four counts of benefit
fraud. Branding him "thoroughly dishonest", Recorder Felicity Davies
said he only escaped jail because relevant legislation was not yet in
force when he committed the offences. He was also ordered to pay £2,000
costs and to repay £603.18 in jobseekers' allowance. He had already
repaid the housing benefit and council tax benefit. A jury had found him
guilty in October of falsely claiming a total of £3,002.95 in benefits
by concealing the fact that his partner was working.

November 2006 Darren Francis
BNP member Darren Francis is given a five-year restraining order after
being found guilty of harassing Sally Keeble, the MP for Northampton North.

September 2006 Robert McGlynn
Robert McGlynn, a Swansea BNP activist, is fined £200 plus £200 costs
for shouting racist abuse at an Asian woman. He was convicted on
evidence from a passer-by. He later loses his appeal against conviction
and is ordered to pay a further £140 in costs.

July 2006 Allen Boyce
The former National Front Remembrance Day parade bugler Allen Boyce, 73,
now a BNP supporter, receives a two-year suspended sentence for giving
bomb-making instructions to Terry Collins, a BNP member, who was
sentenced to five years in 2005 for conducting a racist hate campaign
against the Asian community in Eastbourne.

May 2006 Angela Clarke
A former BNP councillor Angela Clarke is fined £200 for resisting arrest
during a fracas.

May 2006 Kevin Hughes
Kevin Hughes, who acted as election agent for the BNP Redditch
councillor David Enderby in May 2006, is sentenced to 30 months in
prison for assaulting an Iraqi asylum seeker. The sentence is later
reduced to two years on appeal.

March 2006 Luke Smith
A former BNP Burnley councillor Luke Smith is imprisoned for 11 months
for violent disorder, and a further six months for other violent
offences. He is also banned from football matches for six years. Smith
was expelled from the BNP in 2003 following an assault on a BNP organiser.

February 2006 Stephen Bailey
Stephen Bailey, a Lincoln BNP activist, is convicted of 35 charges of
criminal damage and 19 of arson. He set fire to sheds, litter bins and a
car and is believed to have vandalised more than 80 cars by slashing
tyres and damaging bodywork. Bailey was arrested after police seized
computer equipment and documents from his home.

November 2005 Roderick Rowley
Roderick Rowley, a former BNP candidate in Coventry, is imprisoned for
15 months after admitting 14 charges of making, distributing or
possessing obscene images of children. He is also ordered to register as
a sex offender for ten years.

May 2005 Karl Hanson
Karl Hanson is fined £400 for possessing heroin and crack cocaine. News
of his arrest broke a few days before the May 2005 local elections in
which he was a BNP candidate in Huddersfield.

April 2005 John Cope
John Cope, a Cheshunt BNP member and election candidate, is fined £750
and ordered to pay £104 costs for harassing an anti-racist campaigner.

March 2005 Terry Collins
Terry Collins, a BNP member, is sentenced to five years in prison for a
year-long campaign of terror against Asian families in Eastbourne. He
claims the BNP "brainwashed" him. Collins, a former Territorial Army
soldier, admitted charges of arson, racially aggravated harassment and
criminal damage. He also admitted the possession of bullets found in his
home and asked for 11 further offences of racially aggravated criminal
damage to be taken into account.

date: Mon, 16 Apr 2007 11:27:28 +0100 author: HJ